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CEBU CITY, Philippines – A drug suspect, who has been tagged in the killing of a rookie policeman and the wounding of three others in Bohol, was killed in a checkpoint on Saturday night in Guindulman town, Bohol.
Two rookie policemen were also wounded when Artemio Tare Jr., 31, shot them inside the Ceres-Southern Star bus about 9:30 p.m. on Saturday on the national highway of Barangay (village) Tabajan, Guindulman, about 69 kilometers from the capital city of Tagbilaran.
But Tare was killed after Police Officer 1 Geremias Platino and PO1 Joel Bayron were able to fire back at the suspect.
PO2 Cullen Hibaya said they formed an eight-man team headed by Guindulman police chief, Senior Inspector Joemar Pomarejos, after receiving a directive from the Bohol Provincial Police Office to conduct a checkpoint along the national highway from 9 p.m. to midnight on Saturday.
He said they didn’t have any actual information that Tare was on board a bus from Tagbilaran City to Ubay town.
The police had been hunting down Tare who was identified as the lone gunman who shot and killed PO1 Michael June Ejoc and wounded three other policemen from the Provincial Intelligence Branch while they were about to raid a suspected drug den in Poblacion 1, Tagbilaran, on Friday.
Hibaya said that during the checkpoint, they flagged down every vehicle but didn’t frisk the passengers.
Then the police saw an approaching Ceres-Southern star bus. Like the other vehicles, the policemen flagged down the bus.
Hibaya said he, Platino and Bayron went inside the bus.
Platino saw a man sitting at the back portion of the bus and told him to remove his baseball cap.
But the man instead pulled out his .357 magnum revolver and shot Platino in the right abdomen and Bayron, in the right leg. Platino and Bayron, who were armed with a .9mm pistol and M16 rifle, were still able to fire back at the man who was then running toward the door of the bus.
The man, who was later identified as Tare, was hit and he fell on the ground, just below the door. He suffered bullet wounds in the head and different parts of the body.
Other bus passengers were not harmed although they all scampered in different directions. Others jumped off the bus through the windows.
The two policemen were brought to the Ramiro Hospital in Tagbilaran City where they were declared out of danger.
Hibaya said the police recovered three guns from Tare. The suspect was holding a .357 magnum while .45 caliber pistol was tucked in his waist and a .22 revolver was found inside the pocket of his pants.
The police also found several pieces of ammunition, three identification cards and two sachets of shabu.
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